Well thank you to ISOBEL for the Versitile blogger award. And many thank's to Vee for helping me attach it! so My Nomminees for this award are;

http://Isobelscreationblogspot.com/

http://lindasrainbowcraftingcabin.blogspot.com/

http://polkadoddlesandme.blogspot.com/

http://what-nikki-did-next.blogspot.com/

http://craftytmonster81blogspot.com/

http://teegsscrapncards.blogspot.com/

http://simplystylishstamping.blogspot.com/

http://veecasidy.blogspot.com/

http://CrimsonMoonCrafts.blogspot.com/

http://thecraftyclarkster.blogspot.com/

http://catherine-whatkatiedidnext.blogspot.com/

http://goonergirl-craftingheaven.blogspot.com/

http://dawn-dawnscrafting.blogspot.com/

http://janescraftybits.blogspot.com/

http://inkymits.blogspot.com/

The agreement upon accepting the Versatile blogger award is to nominate 15 blogs that have inspired you .....the above blogs I go back to again and again and are some of my many favourites.........

Also you have to say 7 things about yourself.....

So;

1. I have 2 boys James 20 at Plymouth Uni studying Law. And Rory who will be 17 on Monday 19th March....Rory has an Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

2. We have 5 Rhodesian Ridgeback's Durban, Purdy, Jilla, Pierrot, and Squirt!

3. My Husband works away a lot .....

4. We live in a very Beautiful part of the country Plymouth in Devon.

5. We used to own 2 Cafe's but as my husband works away so much the hours were to much as well as looking after the family and dogs so I am now a stay at home Mum.;)

6. I will try my hand at most craft but I hate sewing or needle craft as I had my hand run through a sewing machine at school by one of the school bullies.

7. I was nearly expelled from school for letting the rabbits out that we were going to dissect in the science lab. A friend and I took them and let them lose over the park but we were seen and reported. I owned up and said I would do the same again....... There was a little smile on the heads face........I was given detention for a month and it was worth every line.

Hi I'm doing well this week....Well only because we are off to France in a few days for a week or 10 days don't know when we are back but leaving Eldest here with instruction's for NO WILD parties!

So here as promised, is The Mandarin Duck. Again this is a Clarity stamp Love these they are so easy to use. Used it in the same way as I did the Kingfisher. Masking the sun and the duck put the sky in first in Adirondack Cloudy Blue.

The the ground is Oregano.

And the water is Stonewashed.

The mud! is Sponged with Espresso and a little Lake Mist.

The Duck is Stamped in Espresso Adirondack ink and then coloured in with Promarkers;

Turquoise.

Gold.

Mustard.

Sky blue

Burnt Orange.

The bull rush leaves are Lime Zest.

the only thing I have done different is pick a little lake mist ink from the inkpad onto a brush and swirl it around were the mud ends to give it some depth...........I will be AWOL for a couple of weeks but hopefully will be back before Easter to tell you of my travels. Take care. xx

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED............



Good Morning and what a lovely day it is today here in Plymouth......I do hope you like the image above after many failed and aborted attempt's I think I've finally "Got It" Brayering that is. The stamps used are all from Clarity stamps the inks were Adirondacks from Ranger;

Ingredients;
Pitch black
Cloudy Blue
Lettuce
Stonewashed
Expresso
Speedball Brayer
Copy paper.
Clarity cardstock it's like very good quality photo paper and has a lovely sheen.
The king fisher set from Clarity Stamps
Cheap memo pads and a pair of scissors.
Small round coin or punch.
Low tack tape

For the Kingfisher;
Sky blue
Bright Orange
Cool Grey

Bright Green for the leaves

What to do;
Take four strips of low tack masking tape and place around the end or the card to make a frame. you are going to be stamping on the inside of this tape.
Stamp kingfisher onto memo pad making sure that part of the bird has been stamped on the sticky part of the pad cut out......do the same with the coin or small round punch again making sure there is sticky on the back.

Next take a piece of clarity card stock and ink the kingfisher in Pitch black, Now this is important because of the type of card it is when you ink it you need to stamp it on some copy paper first so you have the second generation of ink to actually stamp onto the card .....if you don't and you go directly to the card with the ink fresh it will not dry and you will end up with a mess believe me I have tried........So with the kingfisher stamped and ready to go put the mask you have made over the top and then decide where you want the sun to go  and place the round mask on top now you ready to brayer.
 Take the brayer and ink up Cloudy blue for the sky rip a piece of copy paper and place on the bottom half of were you think the ground or hills should go and stick with low tack tape on the side to keep it in place being careful not to stick to the inside of the picture. With the ground /hills part covered SAVE the other piece of paper you will see why in a minute. 
Take the brayer and run the ink off on a piece of copy paper, and on the side of the brayer do one of Barbara Grey's famous wheelies. Now spin the brayer over the paper ...you can find lots of tutorials that Barbara Grey has done and if like me you need a visual lesson then please do take a look she is a fab teacher. Next do the grass or hills  now .....you need to have saved that other piece of copy paper the bit you ripped because now you need to cover the sky, the piece you have ripped will cover that perfectly.
 Clean the brayer and dry it and ink with Lettuce repeat the process again not forgetting to roll off the first generation of ink first on another piece of copy paper, this time covering both the sky and where you want the water to go.
 The hills in place you now should have a piece at the bottom where the water is going to be....leaving the sky covered you also now need to cover the grass or hills.......you should have the paper for this if not don't panic as the waterway is straight any piece of copy paper will do as long as it cover's the grass or hills you have done. now this bit is fun....Screw up into a tight ball a clean piece of copy paper...the tighter and more wrinkled the better and smooth out. clean the brayer and dry again and ink up with stone washed you want the whole brayer covered and then run it over a the wrinkled paper when you lift the brayer off you will see the wrinkles transferred onto the brayer......this is going to be our water. Spin the brayer over the card where you want the water to be and now set aside to dry.......
I left mine over night as I do a lot of my crafting late in the evening....but that's just me. I then took the branch inked it with the Expresso inkpad and stamped it off once on a piece of copy paper then planted it on the now dry card And repeated that but put the branch over the top the bird so it looked as though he was sitting in the tree. I had leaves that I think may have came with this set and popped them on the branches also. Then inked bull-rushes and repeated the process and put them in the corner.  then coloured in Kingfisher and branch with leaves in colours stated above. I cheated and paid the price I tried to use walnut promarker on the branch thinking it would match the expresso inkpad ...be warned it doesn't the next time I will take a little ink from the inpad and a brush and colour it in that way ....the promaker bled out of my frame so I have had to crop it which is why there is no white rim ......however all that aside I am pleased with this one. I love the stamp and it is a firm favourite.
I hope you like the end result.